Canada Post to charge $200 per address for community mail boxes

Ezio Tartaro, president of the Greater Windsor Homebuilders Association, shown here in LaSalle, Ont. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, is responding to Canada Post charging builders $200 per address for every new community mail box.

Home builders across the Windsor area reacted with anger Tuesday over Canada Post’s decision to charge $200 per address to developers for the installation of community mail boxes for new homes and commercial properties.

Builders are expected to pass along the fee — which goes into effect in January — to new home buyers.

“It’s disgusting,” said Ezio Tartaro, president of the Greater Windsor Homebuilders Association and president of Gintar Contractors Ltd. “This only adds to the fees affecting the affordability of new housing.

“It will affect business to say the least.These are fees we have to constantly outline to new home buyers. It scares people off from buying new when they are constantly subject to these fees.”

Tartaro said the local homebuilders association has already been in contact with its provincial and federal counterparts to organize a fight against Canada Post and the new community mail box fee.

“Builders are already faced with many challenges with rising cost of materials and labour,” he said. “What about the cost savings of community mail boxes compared to door-to-door service?

“We will look to demonstrate our frustration, delay this from starting in January, then work to abolish it.”

Canada Post says it can no longer afford to cover the full cost of installing community mail boxes, which were introduced in the mid-1980s.
The company ended up with a record $327-million budget shortfall in 2011, said spokesman Jon Hamilton.

“We are now at a point with mail volumes on the decline we can’t shoulder the full cost on this any more,” he said. “We are looking at a partial cost recovery from developers. Our mandate is to provide mail service to Canadians and not be a drain to taxpayers.”

There are 3.8 million Canadians who use the community mail boxes, or one in four households. New residential and commercial developments add between 150,000 and 200,000 mailing addresses every year, according to Canada Post.

If there were no new residential or commercial developments there would not be a need for more community mail boxes, said Hamilton who compared it to homeowners in those areas covering the costs for adding new sewers, water, and cable connections in the same neighbourhoods.

“This is no different, he said. “We’ve covered this for so many years and understand it is a big change. We hope over time it is one that people will understand.”

But the new charge is “discriminatory” and penalizes those forced to use community mail boxes, said Joe Rauti, owner of Joe Rauti Custom Homes and former president of the local homebuilders association.

“People in older houses, they get their mail at the door and they pay nothing,” he said. “I have to walk down 400 feet to the corner for my mail and now you want me to pay for the mail box, too? We should all be treated the same. I’ll be willing to pay $200 when everybody else does.”

If Canada Post is losing so much money, the company should focus on further cutting expenses like any other business, Rauti said.

“I have to adjust my expenses,” he said. “”I can’t raise $10,000 by adding new (fees). I have to cut.”

Rauti also believes $200 per address is out of line for what it costs to install new community mail boxes, but Hamilton disputed that, saying the total cost is greater. He could not give an exact amount.

“We have to build them to a high security standard,” Hamilton said. “They have to weather Canadian winters and the locks stay open (from ice). They have to be air tight and are required to last a long time. This fee will not cover the entire cost of installation. There is also maintenance and snow clearing. We are just asking for assistance to help us with these costs.

“We are already doing everything we can to modernize and reduce costs. This is not revenue generation, but cost recovery.”

The fee will not be introduced for apartment buildings and condominiums where costs are already built into construction because those mailboxes have to meet specifications under Canada Post guidelines, he said.

Ezio Tartaro, president of the Greater Windsor Homebuilders Association, shown here in LaSalle, Ont. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, is responding to Canada Post charging builders $200 per address for every new community mail box.

Ezio Tartaro, president of the Greater Windsor Homebuilders Association, shown here in LaSalle, Ont. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, is responding to Canada Post charging builders $200 per address for every new community mail box.

Canada Post community residential mailboxes in LaSalle, Ontario on November 6, 2012. Canada Post is charging builders $200 per address for every new community mail box. (JASON KRYK/ The Windsor Star)

Canada Post community residential mailboxes in LaSalle, Ontario on November 6, 2012. Canada Post is charging builders $200 per address for every new community mail box. (JASON KRYK/ The Windsor Star)

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